Brook County Libraries to Change Hours at Branch

Hours and staffing for the Brooke County Public Libraries will change effective Jan. 3, 2023.
At the last scheduled meeting of 2022, the board decided to modify the hours for the branch in Follansbee.
As a result, the branch will be open 38.5 hours per week instead of the current 34 hours.
decision had been made for modifying hours at the branch.
“Before COVID made an appearance, it was still evident that by statistics and attendance of programs, that more people attended the library during the week at the branch,” said library director Alexandra Schneider.
“It was re-evaluated during the middle of this year to compare pre-COVID stats to current stats. It was also apparent that the trend of attracting staff members for positions at the library was made more difficult with the limited hours of operation on Fridays and Saturdays at the branch.
“Current trends of worker shortage as well as a highly competitive job market for entities that offer more hours, higher wages, and sign-on bonuses, greatly reduced the pool of viable candidates who wanted more hours or higher pay than we could offer.
Over the past eight years, the library has been streamlining schedules to align better with what the director calls, “meatier schedules,” thereby creating better part-time schedules that a staff member can work at just the library or could easily join it with a second job as hours do not fluctuate or change.
“The goal has been to also increase wages when budget allows for it, which is hard at a non-profit level,” she said.
“It also allowed access to additional benefits like retirement and health case to be opened to part-time staffers if they choose. The board also took in to consideration other libraries in West Virginia and their hours for smaller locations.”
As a result, the board decided to change hours at the Follansbee branch location by closing on Saturdays but opening earlier on certain days and staying later on Fridays.
The current schedule until the start of Christmas break is: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-1p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, which totals 34 hours open.
The new schedule will start when the libraries reopen Jan. 3, 2023, and the hours will be: 10 am.–6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays. The total hours open will increase to 38.5 hours.
The Friday hours also will give a slight advantage to the branch over the main location as being open earlier than even it.
The library board was also able to create one more full-time library clerk position for a total of three full-time clerks and two part-time scheduled clerks, which will now allow that staff member to access better health care coverage, pay and add more into retirement.
Questions may be directed to the library director at 304.737.0157 or by e-mail at [email protected].